Step 3: Figure out how to best use the materials

This step is the most critical, in my opinion. In the past, I’ve learned that missteps or skipped details in this phase can end up costing money, time, or both. For this larger project, I wanted to take my time and spend a little time drawing out everything. Like I mentioned earlier, I like to draw our detailed visuals to get a firm understanding of how it all fits together. That way it can identify problems before I start the building process. I find when I don’t do this step as well, I end up hacking things together toward the end of a project.

In Figure 1, you can see I was working out how everything will fit together and the final measurements. The bottom of the photo is where I was calculating how many pieces I could get out of each 4×8 sheet of plywood.

In addition, if you look closely you’ll notice I was drawing in dowel pins to fasten pieces together. Like these on Amazon: Dowel Pins

In Figure 2, is a listing of things I think I will need. The bottom half is where I was trying to see the minimum number of 4×8 bead board panels I would need. It was a challenge due to the size i needed and the direction the channels ran on the beadboard.